Three Ways to Achieve Your Writing Goals in 2018

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I have a confession to make…I’m hopeless at keeping New Year resolutions. Usually they’re history by mid-January. However, many years ago I did set one that I stuck with and that was to write every day of the week. How did this one become goal actually achieved while the others were mere history?

First thing, I didn’t start on January 1st. I’ve learned that it puts too much pressure on you. Panic sets in and before you know it that goal gets added to the following year’s list.

Last year I wanted to get back to exercising and chose April to do it and not January and it was another resolution I achieved. So give yourself some time and don’t think of a year as a January to January event. Work from your own timetable. Maybe you’re new year starts in spring or even fall.

Second thing that I feel helped me was I focused on it every day. Something that gets your attention, gets noticed, actually gets done. The tip I give my students is to make an appointment with themselves to write. Mark it on your calendar and pretend it’s something that you have to do no matter what.

Third thing, I gave myself permission to fail and permission to try again. There were some days I had no motivation to write but I told myself tomorrow was a brand new day and the whole process started up again.

While I’m on the topic of motivation, lots of my students tell me it helps if someone’s there pushing them on and that’s why they like a coach. With that in mind, I’ll be adding a Motivation Monday feature to this site….yep, that means that Writing Prompts will move to another day. Each Monday I’ll give you a tip or at least some place you can visit to monitor how your goals are working out this year. If you have some technique or trick to staying motivated I’d love for you to share it and I’ll post it on the site. Also, what’s your biggest struggle with staying motivated and reaching your writing goals?